The need for security in systems utilized in various types of financial, governmental, retail, manufacturing and other establishments, in order to prevent use of the system, or entry into the system, by unauthorized parties is a current and pressing problem. One solution to the problem is to provide reliable means to verify that the party requesting use of, or entry into, the system is, in fact, the person he or she claims to be. For the purpose of verifying the identity of an individual, some unique personal characteristics such as, for example, facial features, fingerprints, voice patterns or signature of the individual may be employed.
One suitable characteristic is the force pattern of an individual's signature. Systems have been developed which are capable of distinguishing between a forged signature and a valid signature on this basis. This may be accomplished by detecting individually distinctive force characteristics of a signature to be tested and converting them into electrical signals which can be automatically processed and compared with the stored representation of an authentic signature, for determination of whether or not the tested signature is a valid one.
A number of United States Patents have issued which are directed to signature verification, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,480,911; 3,579,186; 3,618,019; 3,818,443; 3,859,515; 3,906,444; 3,959,769; 3,962,679; 3,983,535; 4,028,674; 4,035,769; 4,040,011; 4,040,012; and 4,086,567.
A continuing need exists for signature verification systems which provide increased accuracy, reliability and speed of operation. The system which is the subject of the present invention offers a novel arrangement which is readily and conveniently implemented to provide the signature vectors which enable comparisons to be carried out for the purpose of verification with a high degree of accuracy.